Route 66

12 Randolph

I was sinking to a watery grave with the essence of my life fading away, nerves and musculature refusing to respond. So this is how it ends.

Right before everything faded to black I felt a force hoisting me up towards the surface. In a split second after the lightning struck, Annette risked her life to save me, keeping my head above water with one arm while she swam us both to shore and dragged me to safety before collapsing in exhaustion.

The torrents of rain had now diminished to a sprinkling and the vengeful black sky dissipated with rays of light forcing their way through the darkness.

My body felt like jelly as I managed to turn my head to the side and saw Annette splayed out over the desert, face down, her back rising and falling with labored breaths.

I made several failed attempts to rise and tried to say something but it only came out as gibberish. Footsteps were coming up behind me quickly as Annette slowly got up to her knees.

A male voice spoke with a concerned tone but it also had another quality, one I couldn't place...there was a certain eagerness to it.

"You girls both look half dead, what happened?"

Then the man squatted down and said, "Can you hear me?"

"Our car...ran out of gas...walking for hours...nothing to eat...drink...two days," Annette whispered hoarsely.

With that she clawed her way towards the lake on hands and knees.

There were two men. One was short and heavy set with glasses and a military cut who must have been in his mid-forties wearing khaki slacks and a white collared short sleeve shirt and the other in his mid-twenties with thick, wavy hair, khaki shorts and an open collared shirt with a tank style tee underneath.

It was the younger one that was obviously in control from the way he spoke.

"Dr. Borden, your canteen please."

The young man swiftly grabbed the canteen from Dr. Borden, knelt beside Annette, and urgently tilted it to her lips as she gulped the water down, refilling it twice to satisfy her desperate thirst.

He then came over to me, propped my head up and put the canteen up to my mouth.

I shook my head.

"Dr. Borden, let's get these girls to the jeep and to a medical facility."

Dr. Borden was expressionless and "Yes Randolph" was his only response.

"Do you have feeling in your legs?" Randolph asked.

I tried again to speak with no success, so I nodded. He helped me up so I was able to sit unassisted without falling over.

"Let's carry her," he suggested.

Dr. Borden held my legs while Randolph put his arms under my shoulders and lifted me off the desert floor. They transported my semi-limp body to the jeep and set me up in the back seat. Annette was able to walk without their assistance and soon she was situated right beside me.

Without another word they drove off, to where I don't know. Anywhere was better than here.